The History of Nirn and The Elder Scrolls

An Overview

The Elder Scrolls is such an in-depth and beautiful game. The history that takes the 4 Eras back to their beginning is a colorful journey. Tamriel is a majestic island that has suffered many millennia of constant war. The dirt and grass of the land is soaked through and through with blood. The people of the land have descended from a great line of heroes back to the Ehlnofey and the Aedra. The history of Elder Scrolls is a long journey through thousands of years of wars, treaties and more battles. The story is a very in depth one and if you would like to see all of it visit the Elder Scrolls Wiki. Here I will go through and highlight on the important stories that changed Tamriel today. I will not be going into detail on each of the games. If you want a plotline for the games, play them.

In the current detailing of history, time is told in six eras. The first two eras are, for the most part, lost in time. Legend tells of the Dawn Era, the first of the six eras, and it entails the creation of Sithis, the Elder Scrolls equivalent of God and the et’Ada that formed after him. No dates are known for this era, we don’t even have a rough estimate of time. The second era, the Mythic Era, entails the coming of Nirn, the plane on which Tamriel exists and the creation of time. In this Era you must judge for yourself what you will believe and what you will not believe. Though time existed they had not discovered a way to write down and log their events. The dates of each discovery is unknown but the order of each story is known. Next is the First Era (technically the third era), and it entails the first two empires. Then follows the Second, Third and finally the Fourth Era.

If you would like a detailing of each race before you begin read my Races of Elder Scrolls page first. I think most of the races below will make more sense if you understand who they are first.

The Dawn Era

“Before Time began, there was a cube”… Oh wait! Wrong story, that’s next week.

Before the time of Tamriel and Nirn there was Anu, a state of nothingness. It was in this state of nothing that Padomay (more commonly known as Sithis) was created. After his creation a group of spirits known as the et’Ada came into existence.

The Mythic Era

At first the et’Ada were formless, only spirits, but then Akatosh found a way to manifest himself into form. Akatosh brought with his existence the concept of time. Shortly after his manifestation the other et’Ada learned from him and manifested themselves, giving rise to hundreds of et’Ada. For a while they lived out their existence on this plane, without cause or purpose. Then, one day the et’Ada Lorkhan came to his fellow et’Ada with a plan to create a world of beings that they could rule over. These creatures would be “the soul of the universe”. Most of the beings weren’t interested in his idea while others believed it to be a trick (giving way to Lorkhan’s reputation as “the Trickster”). Before long Lorkhan had a few followers that agreed to help him with this and they created the plane of Nirn.

While they created Nirn it became apparent to some of the et’Ada that they were using their own energy to create this planet. Some of them chose to stay and give all of their energy while other fled, trying to save themselves. Magnus, initially the chief architect of Lorkhan’s plan, was the first to flee. With his departure from the realm he punched a hole in the sky, giving us the Sun (also with his departure he gave us magic). Magic is linked to Magnus and because he escaped our plane of existence when we use magic it flows from Magnus who is not bound by our rules, giving magic’s ability to break natural laws. Other et’Ada fled from the creation, but they were not able to leave in time, trapping them on our plane of existence and connecting them to Nirn forever. The et’Ada who remained with the creation found themselves in a very weak state after its creation. It is said that with the creation Lorkhan was destroyed, his body being used as the mass that created Nirn, which explains the discovery of his heart deep within Red Mountain.

The last group of et’Ada that gave up their energy for Nirn, discovered that they would need to procreat to continue their existence. With each generation that came, the et’Ada lost more and more of their “divinity” eventually leaving them in a mortal state. These beings came to be known as the Ehlnofey, the first inhabitants of Nirn. From the Ehlnofey came the existence of Mer (elves) and Man. With the branching of their existence each race took their own interpretation of what happened. The Mer believed themselves to be descendants from the Ehlnofey while Man believed themselves to be a creation of the et’Ada. The elves believed that Lorkhan tricked the et’Ada into creating Nirn. They gave the name of Aedra to any spirit that helped Lorkhan and died through the creation of Nirn. They gave the name of Daedra to any spirit that didn’t help and remained on the spiritual realm. Both races believe the Aedra to be Gods, forms to be worshipped, while the Daedra are believed to be evil and not to be worshipped.

The next points in history are unknown in their order but what transpired is, for the most part, known. Tamriel at this point are inhabited by the beast-people (Khajiit and Argonian). At this point it is believed that the Aldmeri traveled to Tamriel from their homeland of Aldmeris (known as Old Ehlnofey). At first they establish land on the coasts but with their expansion in technology they drive back the beast-people into the swamplands and forests, giving them reign over most of Tamriel. At this time the Adamantine Tower is constructed on Balfiera Island on High Rock, the oldest building in all of Tamriel. The documented date of construction, kept by Elvish records, is ME 2500. This record is the earliest written date in all of Tamriel history. Next Crystal Tower on Summerset Isle and White Gold Tower in Cyrodiil are built.

The Dwemer, the Deep Elves, begin building underground civilizations, becoming reclusive in their technology. The populate most of Skyrim and Morrowind. During this time is also when the Chimer break free from the Altmer and settle in Morrowind, close to the Dwemer. Despite their hate for the Dwemer, the Chimer covet their discoveries and lead many raids against them. Around this time as well the Orsimer, led by their God Trinimac, fought against the Chimer and their leader Velothi to attempt to halt their movement. Unfortunately before they are able to do much damage Trinimac is eaten by the Daedric Prince Boethiah and turns Trinimac into Malacath. Through this act the Orsimer are stripped of their elvish features and become beasts. They continue to serve Malacath in their new form, the Orcs.

After this time the Dunmer begin breaking off into lower families and sects. Some of them became the great houses that rule over Morrowind while others became the nomad Ashlanders.

Late in the Mythic Era the Nedes begin migrating to Tamriel. Led by Ysgramor, the Nord hero discovers a runic transcription based off the Elves and he becomes the first Nede Historian. When they land in northern Tamriel, the Nedes build their fabeled city of Saarthal. The Aldmer push the Nedes out of their cities but the Nedes soon return and take back their land.

Ending the Mythic Era is the rise of the first King. Pelinal Whitestrake (also known as Harrald Hairy Breeks) is an immortal war hero and sorcerer. Gathering armies he wandered Tamriel, conquering cities as he went before randomly abandoning his men and wandering the land before doing it again, multiple times. King Harald, as he is later known, ends the Mythic Era with his rule.

The First Era

From now on I will mention each occurrence with a date first and the description afterwards. I will only mention the matters which are most important.

In 1E 20 we have the first account of the Psijics order.

In 1E 63 the last two ships from Altmora land in Tamriel, filled with dead Nedes.

In 1E 113 Herald, the first Nordic ruler is born and in 1E 139 he ordered a campaign against the remaining Snow Elves in the region. That same year the last remnants of the Dragon Cult were discovered by his armies.

In 1E 242 the Cyrodiilic begin an uprising against the Ayleid. The next year the symbol of the Ayleid Empire, the White Gold Tower, falls.

In 1E 369 the Wild Hunt takes place and the Nord King Borgas dies. The War of Succession begins and Skyrim begins to lose its holdings in Morrowind and High Rock.

In 1E 416 the Indoril Nerevar and Dunmac Dwarfking form an alliance to protect their land from the Nordic Invasion.

In 1E 420 some of the Dwemer clans settle in Hammerfell and create Volenfell as their capital.

The Fourth Era

In 4E 22 the Thalmor take control of Summerset Isle and rename it to Alinor.

In 4E 29 the Government of Valenwood is overthrown by the Thalmor. The Aldmeri Dominion (the Thalmor) severs all ties with the Empire.

In 4E 122 The Great Collapse of Winterhold occurs.

In 4E 171 the Aldmeri Dominion the Emperor step down from power. When the Empire refuses the Aldmeri Dominion invade Hammerfell and Cryodiil.

In 4E 172 the Aldmeri Dominion moves into Cryodiil to capture the Imperial City.

In 4E 174 Imperial City falls to the Aldmeri Dominion.

In 4E 175 the Imperials fight and are able to take back the Imperial city but not without heavy losses. The Empire signs a peace treaty, the White-Gold Concordate, ending the war. In the treaty the Aldmeri Dominion agreed to abandon all the land they gained in the war and the Empire agreed to ban the worship of Talos. In this same year Ulfric Stormcloak kills the High King Torygg of Skyrim.

In 4E 201 the Skyrim storyline begins.

This is a broad overview of the Elder Scrolls storyline. A lot of it was removed but all of the important things are here, in my opinion. If you want to read about all of the details you can find a full timeline on the Elder Scrolls Wiki. I hope you enjoyed this and check out my other two hubs for more information on the Elder Scrolls universe.

Comments

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James Robertson 4 years agofrom Texas

That is definitely true. I did not want to really include any Skyrim information since at the time of the publication of this article it was a new game. Thanks for that part though. You are correct, as far as my knowledge serves me. And they do speak as if it just happened in the game.

Me 4 years ago

In Solitude, they're executing that guard for letting Ulfric Stormcloak get through the gates after he killed the king, but Ulfric killed Torygg in 4E 175, but Skyrim doesn't start until 4E 201. Ulfric killed Torygg 6 years ago, but everybody's talking about it like it just happened last week.

Author

James Robertson 5 years agofrom Texas

Skyrim is definitely the most beautiful game of all the Elder Scrolls. It takes a ridiculous amount of time to fully adventure, so I know what you mean. Thank you for the comment.

Kalmiya 5 years agofrom North America

I think Skyrim is fascinating with gorgeous graphics. I know my daughter is entranced. I wish I had more time to actually look at it but not possible. Thanks for your hub!